The After
by PrincessSkywalkerOrgana
Summary: A snippet of James and Lily in the Afterlife. How James handled it when he met Peter again.


AN-Please keep religious views of the afterlife out of this. I have tried to keep it as religiously neutral as possible (but consistent with what JKR wrote about the afterlife.) I tried to focus solely on the emotions. Feedback, including concrit, welcome. It is timed in the Malfoy Manor chapter of Deathly Hallows.

Disclaimer-everything owned by JKR and her licensees.

James Potter sat on an easy chair on the porch looking out, frowning slightly as he watched events unfold below him. He was watching so intently that he did not notice a fiery redhead woman approach him from inside the house. She laughed slightly when he jumped at her touch. "I remember a time when I could never sneak up on you."

James allowed the woman to turn his face, but said, "Lil, I wanna keep watching. Harry and his friends are trapped in the Malfoy Manor."

"James." Lily said, the smile vanishing from her face, obviously wishing she could turn around and go inside again. "I have told you before. It kills me to watch, knowing that I cannot do anything."

"Now if he had the resurrection stone…" James face took on the old prankster's expression.

Lily laughed slightly and ruefully. "Harry and his friends have gotten out of worse situations. They will be fine." Lily said, almost as if to convince herself.

"Lil" James said, snorting slightly, "What's the worst that can happen? He can join us here." James spread his arms out to indicate the plane that was their afterlife. A wonderful place it was indeed, filled with everything you could want. Despite the billions of people there, it never felt crowded and it never lacked for anything. Including the one thing that Lily Potter sometimes wished they did lack, a view to the living world.

Lily smiled. "That's true. And we could be the family that we always dreamed of. But I do want my son to experience life. It isn't his time!"

"HA!" James said, watching with delight as Dobby apparated in. "Thank you, Dobby! It isn't Harry's time yet." He said, almost as if he had heard Lily.

James' face became stony as Wormtail entered the basement where Harry was. Lily knew to remain quiet. This was one of James' three unaddressed things. Most of the souls in the afterlife had some things unaddressed from their lives that still tormented them. James' were, unexpectedly, his friends-Peter, Remus and Sirius. James had been able to make peace with his guilt at what happened to Sirius after Sirius died by helping Sirius gain—and adjust to—his ultimate reward. The fact that Sirius had unequivocally told James that he did not blame him in the least and—after Lily had force James to talk to Sirius—that Sirius still considered James his best friend for eternity. However, Lily knew the real fireworks would come when Peter died. James and Sirius had already applied for permission to guide Peter to the other side and gotten it, and death himself would not be able to save Peter from the wrath of his erstwhile friends.

Lily winced as she saw Peter get killed. She could not figure out what she could do to minimize the damage that was about to occur. As such, all she could think to do was request the powers that be to minimize the damage.

James picked up a copy of the mirror. "Sirius, I think it is about time."

"My permission was revoked. They said only one person needs to go over, though I can visit after he's settled in." Sirius responded.

James' eyebrow was raised, almost of its own accord. That meant that the powers that be had decided that by saving Harry and Ron's life, Peter had redeemed himself—at least a bit.

James was glad his permissions hadn't been revoked and he ignored Lily's warning glare as he put his hand on the portkey that had appeared after a booming but kind voice had said: "James Potter, please present yourself to guide Peter Pettigrew into his After."

James saw that his casual robes had been transfigured automatically into somber black robes, a sign that Peter still had amends to make and that his transition to the After was not going to be a happy one. When he had welcomed Sirius, the robes had been copies of his Gryffindor robes and Sirius had also been in his Gryffindor robes. Peter, instead, was in the uniform of an Azkaban inmate. "Peter." James said, trying to keep his voice neutral.

Peter looked petrified. James knew that his job was to explain to Peter that all was not lost, his crime in the living was not so severe that he could not make amends. That he would have to pay for his crimes but that there was hope. However, before James got to that he had to make sure that Peter understood a few things. "Peter, if your crimes were just against me, I would have forgiven you before you got here." James said, looking Peter straight in the eye. "If your crime had just been against Lily and I, I would have forgiven you before you got here." He laughed slightly. "We lack nothing here and truly are fine. But your crime was against Harry. Harry, who had to grow up neglected and shackled with a horrible destiny. I cannot forgive your betrayal of the friends who loved you. You sent Sirius to Azkaban for 12 years?! Remus. Oh what you did to Remus, the man who helped you when you struggled, who guided you. You subjected him to life without support. You know that Remus needed us, especially Sirius and me. He needed us to prevent him from believing that he didn't deserve equal rights because he was a werewolf. He needed us to fight for him. Instead, you condemned the man who would never have let you suffer, to a life of loneliness. Just imagine, if Sirius had been free and I alive, we would have set you and Remus up in a business somewhere."

James smiled wistfully as he imagined the castle in the sky that he, Lily, and Sirius had built one summer. After they graduated, once Voldemort was defeated, they would invest in a bookshop so that Remus could spend time with his second love, books. And of course, because it was Remus, he would pay off the loan so fast that it would boost his self-confidence. James and Sirius would visit the bookshop and prank it so badly that Lily would make James sleep on the couch.

Peter had been a part of that dream, as he was Remus's assistant bookkeeper, then Owner-manager of the Diagon Alley branch while Remus ran the Hogsmeade branch.

James' smile vanished as the reality crashed down on him. Remus, while managing to be a responsible adult, had never achieved what he wanted professionally. Sure he was an accomplished wizard but he never…never gained that assertiveness and spunk that James and Sirius had wished for him. He never let himself forget he was a werewolf.

"Instead of Harry growing up, as we imagined, in his Uncle Remus and Peter's bookstore, grew up with only Uncle Vernon." James' face fell as he thought of his anger watching his beautiful son constantly berated and belittled by Vernon Dursley. Denied basic treats of childhood while being forced to watch Dudley receiving everything.

James saw the sun rising, the cue that he was over his allotted lecture time. He needed to move on. But, luckily, just saying that and seeing Peter tremble before him as he spoke had alleviated his anger. "For the record, all is not lost. That is why you are here. You have chosen this After through your actions while alive. However, you still have time to make your After what you want."

"Can I earn your forgiveness." Peter rasped, surprising James. Maybe there was wisdom in this approach.

"Of course." James said, his face kind. "And that of Sirius."

Peter snorted, disbelieving. Sirius was even more fiercely protective than James. He had never been one to forgive easily, particularly slightlys against his friends. This was, of course, the reason his animagus was a big black dog.

James smiled despite himself. "Even Sirius, Peter. We talked. That is the point of the After. Except in the rare case your soul is deemed irredeemable, you can earn your healing."

"Why do I keep saying you?" James continued, "Because this _is_ about you. You need to find a way to make amends. It will not be easy, and you will have to suffer, because your soul is damaged. You killed innocent people. Many innocent people. And hurt countless more. But believe in yourself, feel what you need to feel and do what you need to do."

Peter started to fade, and James was surprised to find himself feeling a twinge of pity. Repairing your soul was easier when alive, but coming to the after with a damaged soul…it was going to be a hard road for Peter. Where he was going would not be pleasant. He would have to feel the pain and find a way to work through it.

"Peter, I wish I could help more. But I know you can do it. Believe and Sirius, Lily, and I will see you soon." Was the last thing James could say before Peter vanished.

James lingered for a few minutes until the Portkey started flashing urgently. James' expression was troubled as he arrived back home. He was unsurprised to find Professor Dumbledore sitting having tea with Lily when he returned. Of everyone he had met in the After, he had been most shocked to see Professor Dumbledore. James had always thought that Professor Dumbledore was happy and carefree when he was alive, but there was no comparison between the Dumbledore he had known and the Dumbledore of the After. The After Dumbledore was happy, content, and always smiling but more than anything, there was just something about him that was entirely different.

But the one thing that hadn't changed, James thought wryly, as Professor Dumbledore looked at him, was his insatiable curiosity. It was that that brought him here today, otherwise the last time James and Lily had seen the After Professor Dumbledore was in passing at James' parents' house.

"It was hard." James admitted, as Lily ignored Professor Dumbledore and enveloped him in a hug. "You know, Lil, Professor, part of this was Sirius and my fault. We shouldn't have tempted him. We shouldn't have dangled being secret keeper in front of him. We should have known him better than to think that he would be able to resist such an offer."

"You didn't make him become a Death Eater." Professor Dumbledore said, swiftly and kindly. "He was a Death Eater and a spy before you made him Secret Keeper."

"But maybe he would have hurt his soul less…"

Lily sighed, sadly. "James, he had already been responsible for multiple deaths. He had been betraying the Order for at least months before."

James let Lily and Professor Dumbledore guide him to a table. Lily tried to get him to eat a biscuit but he turned his head.

He ruminated for a few minutes, remember the young man that had been one of his best friends. He remembered the guy who was up for anything, the quiet unassuming follower. The man with an overbearing mother who doted on him for everything.

James sighed remembering Mrs. Pettigrew, when she had arrived in the After and realized what Peter had done, she had completely shunned the Potters and all of the Order members. Lily had explained that that was out of shame for what her son had done. She had been so proud to receive the Order of the Merlin and believe that her son had done all these great things. Then she dies and finds out that not only did he not do those great things, he had actually done horrible things and lied to her. James hoped that sometime she would come back and spend some time with them. After all, no one blamed her for what Peter did.

James sighed, and then looked up to see Sirius walking in. "Do you remember Peter? I mean, our friend Peter."

"Ex-friend." Sirius growled, obviously still angry.

"Sirius, I mean Peter at 15. Peter before the Death Eaters. Peter at Hogwarts." James said, a bit impatiently particularly as Sirius started to pace, growling. Sometimes Sirius could be too focused on the short term emotions. There was a history and root cause here.

But, Sirius did think. He started to smile and then, to James' delight, laugh. "Remember the prank that Peter came up with in 6th year? Singing love songs to McGonagal."

"That was epic." James agreed.

Sirius laughed and then became somber again. "I also remember Remus the last time I saw him. It takes so long to get him to laugh now…"

"Just wait until he gets here." James said, with a devilish smile, refusing to let Sirius bring his mood down.

Sirius laughed. "That will be. Amazing."

"Hope he gets his chance down there, first though. Hopefully he gets to see little Teddy grow up." Lily chimed in.

"Yeah." James said, his voice soft and obviously remembering Harry's birth.

Lily smiled as well, remembering the same and then remembering the birth of little Teddy. Lily had always had a soft spot for Remus Lupin and was happy that he had gotten a chance to be a father.

Those smiles broadened even further as they watched Remus name Harry as godfather and then stake a picture of Teddy to Harry.

"I can't watch." Lily said, firmly, as it became clear that there would be an open conflict between the Death Eaters and Harry.

"Lil, what's the worst that can happen-" James said, selfishly not wanting to watch alone.

"Call Sirius." Lily said, firmly, seeing through James.

"Did someone call me?" Sirius said, walking through the door whistling.

"Yes. Enjoy." Lily said, going back inside, purposely ignoring the two men who were settling to watch the battle and cheer on their respective 'teams.'

Lily, instead, sat calmly and waited for her best friend, Amanda Bones, who felt the same way that she did. She and Amanda enjoyed a pleasant chat about flowers.

Lily's respite did not last long, however, she sighed as a portkey appeared and a booming voice said "Lily Potter, please present yourself to guide Remus John Lupin into the After."

"Poor Teddy." She sighed, as she took the Portkey.

"Hi Remus." Lily said, her eyes a bit sad, as she surveyed Remus in crisp dress robes.

"Lily!" Remus said, his eyes happy. "Why is James not here? Is he-"

"He got Peter and I got you." Lily said, her eyes dancing.

"How did that go?" Remus asked, knowing that James would have held onto his anger.

"Better than expected and better than if Sirius had been there." Lily said, laughing slightly.

"Those two are an interesting combination." Remus said, amused.

His face fell though as some old feelings came seething through. "How could you and James have believed I was the spy?" He asked, abruptly.

"I never did." Lily said, her eyes teary.

Remus's eye curled. "Why did James?"

"He has regretted that every day." Lily said.

Remus deflated, knowing honestly that Sirius and James had both paid in ways that no one should ever have to for their mistake.

"And yes, James has paid for it." Lily said, obviously knowing what Remus was thinking.

"Now. Both of you need to forgive each other. And Move On." Lily said.

"Well, this is not a bad place to move on to." Remus said, looking around.

"It isn't. We have everything we could need here." Lily said. "While we transition to the forever After we have a view to the world, we can communicate with everyone. This is your reward for a life well lived."

"This is your reward for coming through a war with your soul and heart intact. You are one of the best people I know, Remus Lupin. Welcome." Lily said, remembering, almost too late, that he was supposed to transition Remus.

Remus smiled happily and took Lily's outstretched welcoming hands and let her lead him out of the welcoming area.

"You will be assigned a residence. It will, likely, be farther from us as they want you to move on and not be too settled in your life."

"That said, Sirius and James tend to spend every moment together…." Lily shook her head. "I daresay they are waiting for you now."

Remus smiled broadly, obviously hoping so.

Lily helped Remus maneuver to James and her home. She smiled as she saw the familiar lamp post and the sidewalk.

As expected, the door was open and James was standing there with his hands balled in nervousness inside the sleeves of his robe. Sirius was standing at his shoulder a broad smile on his face.

"I am so. Sorry." James started, without preamble.

Sirius shrugged at Remus, obviously knowing from their conversation while they were alive that Remus bore no real ill will. He also, however, let James speak knowing that Remus needed to hear it.

Remus clapped James on the shoulder and Lily teared up watching the three friends walk further into the ether. All the weight of their lives lifted from their shoulders and earning their final and ultimate reward.


End file.
